My concern with eliminating the EV completely or adopting this idea is that candidates will only focus on highly populated areas, and states such as Iowa and New Hampshire will be ignored.
Mass democracies with an electorate almost as large as the American one which use a PV system for the election of the President have not had this issue.
Of course not, a vote is a vote, no matter where it's cast. I don't understand why EC supporters have convinced themselves of something that makes so little sense.
How many mass democracies use an FPTP system to elect their top leader? The answer is very few. Most use a parliamentary system to indirectly choose the prime minster of equivalent position. Those that directly elect their leader often use a runoff if no one gets a majority vote (eg. France).
Out of the ten largest countries in the world, Indonesia and Brazil use direct elections to choose their presidents and Nigeria and Russia use direct electoral-type events to choose theirs. Neither Indonesia nor Brazil have the problems suggested, although Hashemite could certainly tell you a good deal more about elections in Brazil than I can.
I was thinking of the many parliamentary democracies in Europe and Asia, and you are correct that many countries that emerged in the 20th century use a congressional system with a president. Even so, I think the core of my statement stands. Direct presidential election without protection against a minority plurality winner is rare.
In your list above, Russia, Brazil, and Indonesia all use a runoff if the president doesn't get 50% on the first round (I don't know if Nigeria uses a runoff or not in their current form of government). The US system is a pre-modern way to conduct a runoff - a hybrid based on the experience from Britain, the novelty of an elected head of state, and the lack of good communication in the 18th century to conduct a direct runoff. In the Constitution, Congress acts as the runoff if 50% of the electors are not won. Above all, the founders wanted to prevent a tyranny in the new country and the overlapping majority requirements were one way to accomplish that.
To my point. If US was to be properly modern in its election for president, then there should be a runoff provision if no candidate receives 50%. This could be with a second round of voting or with an IRV system. Any system without that type of basic protection would be sorely lacking, IMO.
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